EP2741132B1 - Vacuum-liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device and method - Google Patents
Vacuum-liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device and method Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- EP2741132B1 EP2741132B1 EP12780627.1A EP12780627A EP2741132B1 EP 2741132 B1 EP2741132 B1 EP 2741132B1 EP 12780627 A EP12780627 A EP 12780627A EP 2741132 B1 EP2741132 B1 EP 2741132B1
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- Prior art keywords
- liquid crystal
- cell
- crystal
- liquid
- assembling
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- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 title claims description 51
- 239000004973 liquid crystal related substance Substances 0.000 claims description 202
- 239000000758 substrate Substances 0.000 claims description 112
- 238000009792 diffusion process Methods 0.000 claims description 57
- 239000011521 glass Substances 0.000 claims description 57
- 238000012545 processing Methods 0.000 claims description 19
- OKTJSMMVPCPJKN-UHFFFAOYSA-N Carbon Chemical group [C] OKTJSMMVPCPJKN-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 claims description 10
- 238000012544 monitoring process Methods 0.000 claims description 5
- 230000007547 defect Effects 0.000 claims description 4
- 238000004140 cleaning Methods 0.000 claims description 3
- 210000004027 cell Anatomy 0.000 claims 3
- 210000002858 crystal cell Anatomy 0.000 claims 3
- 238000001179 sorption measurement Methods 0.000 description 11
- 238000004519 manufacturing process Methods 0.000 description 7
- 229910052799 carbon Inorganic materials 0.000 description 6
- 238000006243 chemical reaction Methods 0.000 description 6
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 description 5
- 229910052757 nitrogen Inorganic materials 0.000 description 4
- WUPHOULIZUERAE-UHFFFAOYSA-N 3-(oxolan-2-yl)propanoic acid Chemical compound OC(=O)CCC1CCCO1 WUPHOULIZUERAE-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 2
- 229910052980 cadmium sulfide Inorganic materials 0.000 description 2
- 230000007423 decrease Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000005429 filling process Methods 0.000 description 2
- 229910052760 oxygen Inorganic materials 0.000 description 2
- 230000005855 radiation Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000012360 testing method Methods 0.000 description 2
- BUGBHKTXTAQXES-UHFFFAOYSA-N Selenium Chemical compound [Se] BUGBHKTXTAQXES-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 238000010521 absorption reaction Methods 0.000 description 1
- COOGPNLGKIHLSK-UHFFFAOYSA-N aluminium sulfide Chemical compound [Al+3].[Al+3].[S-2].[S-2].[S-2] COOGPNLGKIHLSK-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 230000005540 biological transmission Effects 0.000 description 1
- NNLOHLDVJGPUFR-UHFFFAOYSA-L calcium;3,4,5,6-tetrahydroxy-2-oxohexanoate Chemical compound [Ca+2].OCC(O)C(O)C(O)C(=O)C([O-])=O.OCC(O)C(O)C(O)C(=O)C([O-])=O NNLOHLDVJGPUFR-UHFFFAOYSA-L 0.000 description 1
- 238000002474 experimental method Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000005286 illumination Methods 0.000 description 1
- 229910052981 lead sulfide Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 229940056932 lead sulfide Drugs 0.000 description 1
- 229910052711 selenium Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 239000011669 selenium Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000004088 simulation Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000003860 storage Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000004148 unit process Methods 0.000 description 1
Images
Classifications
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- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
- G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
- G02F1/01—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour
- G02F1/13—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour based on liquid crystals, e.g. single liquid crystal display cells
- G02F1/1303—Apparatus specially adapted to the manufacture of LCDs
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
- G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
- G02F1/01—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour
- G02F1/13—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour based on liquid crystals, e.g. single liquid crystal display cells
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
- G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
- G02F1/01—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour
- G02F1/13—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour based on liquid crystals, e.g. single liquid crystal display cells
- G02F1/1306—Details
- G02F1/1309—Repairing; Testing
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
- G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
- G02F1/01—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour
- G02F1/13—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour based on liquid crystals, e.g. single liquid crystal display cells
- G02F1/133—Constructional arrangements; Operation of liquid crystal cells; Circuit arrangements
- G02F1/1333—Constructional arrangements; Manufacturing methods
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
- G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
- G02F1/01—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour
- G02F1/13—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour based on liquid crystals, e.g. single liquid crystal display cells
- G02F1/133—Constructional arrangements; Operation of liquid crystal cells; Circuit arrangements
- G02F1/1333—Constructional arrangements; Manufacturing methods
- G02F1/1341—Filling or closing of cells
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
- G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
- G02F1/01—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour
- G02F1/13—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour based on liquid crystals, e.g. single liquid crystal display cells
- G02F1/133—Constructional arrangements; Operation of liquid crystal cells; Circuit arrangements
- G02F1/1333—Constructional arrangements; Manufacturing methods
- G02F1/1341—Filling or closing of cells
- G02F1/13415—Drop filling process
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G02—OPTICS
- G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
- G02F2201/00—Constructional arrangements not provided for in groups G02F1/00 - G02F7/00
- G02F2201/58—Arrangements comprising a monitoring photodetector
Definitions
- the present invention relates to a manufacturing field of a liquid crystal panel, especially to a vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device and a liquid-crystal-assembling method.
- US 2009/213317 A1 discloses a vacuum cell assembling device comprising opposed first and second substrates arranged to hold/support the liquid crystal display panel substrates during the vacuum assembly of the LCD panel substrates.
- US 2009/213317 A1 also discloses a cell-assembling method using said vacuum-assembling device, the method comprising drop-filling the liquid crystal material on the lower glass substrate and cell assembling the upper glass substrate on the lower glass substrate.
- US 2005/068488 A1 discloses an LCD panel assembly method using a drop-filling process.
- dummy cells are formed in the periphery of the image display cell regions.
- the dummy cells are inspected (either manually or automatically by image processing) in order to check whether the liquid crystal amount was to high (gap defect) or to low (bubbles), and feedback is given for the mass production by adjusting the liquid crystal drop filling amount accordingly.
- WO2010/137370 A1 discloses a liquid crystal drop-filling apparatus having a moving mechanism for moving a syringe from which liquid crystal drops are dropped onto a colour filter substrate. CCD cameras are moved together with the syringe to capture images of the liquid crystal discharged from the syringe. Captured image data are analysed by a computer to provide feedback for the drop-filling process.
- the photosensitive element array is provided on the surface of the lower substrate opposing the upper substrate.
- the light-emitting apparatus may comprise a light source, a light reflection plate and a light guide plate, wherein the light source is provided at one side of the light guide plate, and the light guide plate is provided below the light reflection plate.
- the light source is a UV (ultraviolet) light source
- the photosensitive element array is an array constituted by a plurality of UV sensitive resistors, for receiving UV light emitted from the UV light source of the upper substrate.
- the light guide plate for example, may be a flat-type light guide plate.
- the signal processing apparatus may comprise a two-dimensional modeling unit, for converting the electrical signals from the photosensitive element array to the liquid crystal diffusion image.
- the vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device may also comprise a display apparatus which is connected with the signal processing apparatus, for displaying the liquid crystal diffusion image.
- the photosensitive element array may comprise a plurality of photoresistors.
- the photoresistors may be in rectangular thin sheet-like shape.
- the liquid crystal is tagged a liquid crystal.
- the tagged liquid crystal may be a UV-absorbing tagged liquid crystal formed by embedding molecular groups into carbon chains of ordinary liquid crystal molecules.
- the tagged liquid crystal is drop-filled at a first position on the lower glass substrate, and ordinary liquid crystal is drop-filled in other region of the lower glass substrate except the first position.
- the method further comprises: after cleaning off the liquid crystal, drop-filling the tagged liquid crystal at a second position of the lower glass substrate, then drop-filling ordinary liquid crystal in other region of the lower glass substrate except the second position; and superimposing the liquid crystal diffusion images formed at the first and second positions, thereby obtaining an integrated liquid crystal diffusion image, then adjusting the parameters of the cell-assembling procedure according to the integrated liquid crystal diffusion image.
- the parameters of the liquid-crystal-cell-assembling procedure may comprise: the liquid crystal amount, the liquid crystal drop interval, the liquid crystal temperature, and the cell-assembling pressure.
- Embodiments of the present invention provide a vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device and a liquid-crystal-cell-assembling method, which achieve real-time monitoring of liquid crystal diffusion process.
- This embodiment provides a vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device, as shown in Fig.1 and Fig.2 , the device comprising: an upper substrate 1, a lower substrate 2 provided opposite to the upper substrate 1, and a signal processing apparatus 3.
- the upper substrate 1 is provided with a light-emitting apparatus thereon
- the lower substrate 2 is provided with a photosensitive element array 21 thereon, for receiving light from the upper substrate 1.
- the photosensitive element array 21 is connected with the signal processing apparatus 3, and the signal processing apparatus 3 is adapted for converting the electrical signals from the photosensitive element array 21 to a liquid crystal diffusion image.
- the light-emitting apparatus of the upper substrate 1 is preferably a uniform surface light source.
- the light-emitting apparatus may comprise a light source 11, a light reflection plate 12 and a light guide plate 13, wherein the light source 11 is provided at one side of the light guide plate 13, and the light guide plate 13 is provided below the light reflection plate 12.
- the photosensitive element array 21 may be provided on the surface of the lower substrate 2 opposing the upper substrate 1. In other examples, such as cases that the lower substrate 2 is transparent compared to the upper substrate 1, the photosensitive element array 21 also may be provided on the surface of the lower substrate 2 facing away from the substrate 1, or formed in an intermediate layer of the lower substrate 2.
- the photosensitive element array 21 may comprise a plurality of photoresistors, such as a plurality of UV-sensitive resistors.
- the vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device of this embodiment after the light-emitting apparatus is turned on, the light emitted from the light source 11, after being scattered by the light guide plate 13 and reflected by the light reflection plate 12, forms a surface light source of downward-directed illumination.
- an upper glass substrate and a lower glass substrate with a liquid crystal layer sandwiched therebetween are placed between the upper substrate 1 and the lower substrate 2, and the light emitted by the light source 11, passes through the liquid crystal layer, and irradiates onto the plurality of photoresistors of the photosensitive element array 21.
- Photoresistors are also known as light pipes.
- Commonly used production materials for photoresistors include cadmium sulfide (CdS), as well as selenium, aluminum sulfide, lead sulfide and bismuth sulfide and the like. These production materials have such a property that their resistance decreases rapidly when they are illuminated by light with a specific wavelength. Therefore, a photoresistor's resistance changes with intensity of incident light: the resistance decreases when incident light is strong, and the resistance increases when incident light is weak.
- each drop of liquid crystal molecules have different diffusion routes and diffusion processes, thereby different absorption or transmission properties for light are presented along with the diffusion of the liquid crystal molecules.
- the various light intensity cause changes in respective photoresistors, that is, changes will occur in the electric current flowing through the photoresistors or the voltages applied to the photoresistors. In this way, changes of light are converted into changes of electrical signals.
- the signal processing apparatus 3 can obtain a liquid crystal diffusion image according to the changes of the electrical signals. Further, the signal processing apparatus 3 can also receive electrical signals in accordance with a certain frequency from the photosensitive element array 21, and convert the electrical signals into a liquid crystal diffusion image.
- the signal processing apparatus 3 comprises a two-dimensional modeling unit, for converting the electrical signals from the photosensitive element array 21 into a liquid crystal diffusion image.
- the two-dimensional modeling unit processes the electrical signals at a time point into an image, and as observed in a continuous period of time, the two-dimensional modeling unit of the signal processing apparatus 3 processes the changing electrical signals into changing images.
- the vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device also comprises a display apparatus 4, and this display apparatus 4 is connected with the signal processing apparatus 3, for continuously displaying the liquid crystal diffusion images.
- the photoresistors in the present embodiment each can be manufactured in a rectangular thin sheet-like shape so as to absorb more light energy.
- the light source 11 of the light-emitting apparatus may be a UV light source, and accordingly the photosensitive element array 21 comprises a plurality of UV-sensitive resistors, for receiving the UV light emitted from the upper substrate.
- the light guide plate 13 of this embodiment may be a flat-type light guide plate or a wedge-shaped light guide plate.
- the light guide plate 13 in this embodiment is preferably a flat-type light guide plate so as to ensure the evenness of the pressure and to protect the light guide plate 13 from being damaged by the pressure.
- the upper substrate 1 adsorbs the upper glass substrate of the liquid crystal panel
- the lower substrate 2 adsorbs the lower glass substrate of the liquid crystal panel
- the upper substrate 1 is moved exactly above the lower substrate 2 and then moved down, thus realizing the cell-assembly of the upper glass substrate and the lower glass substrate.
- the adsorption method of this embodiment is preferably electrostatic adsorption.
- the upper and lower substrates of a liquid crystal panel to be cell-assembled in the present invention are respectively called “upper glass substrate” and “lower glass substrate”; however, these substrates may be made of glass, and also may be substrates of other materials or types to be cell-assembled.
- the vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device provides a light-emitting apparatus on the surface of the upper substrate opposing the lower substrate, and provides a photosensitive element array on the surface of the lower substrate opposing the upper substrate.
- the light-emitting apparatus When the light-emitting apparatus is turn on, the light emitted from the light source, passing through the liquid crystal layer, reaches the photosensitive element array, and the resistance of the photo resistors in the photosensitive element array will change along with the intensity of the arriving light.
- the liquid crystal diffusion process between the upper glass substrate and the lower glass substrate is converted into changes of electrical signals, thereby achieving real-time monitoring of the liquid crystal diffusion process.
- this embodiment has the photoresistors made in rectangular thin sheet-like shape, which allows the photoresistor to absorb more light energy.
- This embodiment provides a liquid-crystal-cell-assembling method, as shown in Fig.5 , which comprises the following steps 101 to 104.
- Step 101 drop-filling liquid crystal on a lower glass substrate.
- a liquid crystal dropping apparatus to drop-fill 10-20 drops of liquid crystal evenly on the lower glass substrate 5.
- the locations of the dots in Fig.3 represent the positions where liquid crystal needs to be drop-filled.
- the liquid crystal may use tagged liquid crystal, for example, UV-absorbing liquid crystal molecules which are formed by embedding molecular groups into carbon chains of ordinary liquid crystal molecules.
- Step 102 cell-assembling an upper glass substrate and the lower glass substrate.
- the method of this embodiment uses the vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device described in the first embodiment; as an example, a UV light source is selected as the light source, and accordingly the photosensitive element array comprises a plurality of UV-sensitive resistors. After the light-emitting apparatus of the vacuum liquid-crystal-device is turned on, the UV light emitted from the light-emitting apparatus, passing through the drop-filled liquid crystal, reaches the photosensitive element array.
- the drop-filled liquid crystal is UV-absorbing tagged liquid crystal, thus most of the UV light is absorbed by the tagged liquid crystal when the UV light is transmitting through the above described liquid crystal, which means that the region covered with the tagged liquid crystal receives less UV radiation, and accordingly less UV light reaches the corresponding UV-sensitive resistors. Therefore, the resistance of the UV-sensitive resistors in the region corresponding to the tagged liquid crystal is relatively large. The region corresponding to the tagged liquid crystal and the region that is not covered by the tagged liquid crystal are thus distinguished, and the greater the density of the tagged liquid crystal is, the larger the resistance of the UV-sensitive resistors become.
- Step 103 observing a liquid crystal diffusion image formed in the diffusion process of the liquid crystal.
- the liquid crystal diffusion image formed in the diffusion process of the tagged liquid crystal is observed through a display apparatus.
- Step 104 adjusting parameters of the cell-assembling procedure according to the liquid crystal diffusion-simulation image.
- the parameters of the cell-assembling procedure comprise: liquid crystal amount, liquid crystal drop interval, liquid crystal temperature, and cell-assembling pressure.
- the values of the liquid crystal amount, the liquid crystal drop interval, the liquid crystal temperature and the cell-assembling pressure may be preset before the cell-assembly, then during the cell-assembling, it may be observed through the vacuum cell-assembling device whether or not the liquid crystal diffusion meets the requirements and whether or not there is a lot of generated bubbles under such a set of parameters. If the liquid crystal diffusion does not meet the requirements, then at least one of the parameters of the liquid crystal amount, the liquid crystal interval, the liquid crystal temperature, and the cell-assembling pressure will be changed; thereafter the cell-assembling test is performed again, until the liquid crystal diffusion meets the requirements and the quantity of the generated bubbles are within a permissible range of the process.
- the process to observe the liquid crystal diffusion image formed in the diffusion process of the tagged liquid crystal and adjust the parameters of the cell-assembling procedure according to that image may be performed by a person, and also may be accomplished automatically by a machine with a preset programming instruction.
- the liquid-crystal-cell-assembling method forms tagged liquid crystal by marking liquid crystal molecules, and at the same time utilizes the property that the tagged liquid crystal can absorb UV light, so that the signal processing apparatus is allowed to identify the regions covered with liquid crystal and the regions not covered with liquid crystal, as well as the covering thickness of the liquid crystal. In this way, the liquid crystal diffusion process can be monitored, and thus the producing process of a liquid crystal panel is improved and the yield is increased.
- the present embodiment provides a liquid-crystal-cell-assembling method, as shown in Fig.6 , which comprises the following steps 201 to 206.
- Step 201 marking liquid crystal molecules, so that tagged liquid crystal is formed.
- molecular groups may be embedded in carbon chains of ordinary liquid crystal molecules, thus forming UV-absorbing liquid crystal molecules.
- Step 202 drop-filling one drop of the tagged liquid crystal at a first position on a lower glass substrate, and drop-filling ordinary liquid crystal in other region of the lower glass substrate except the first position.
- a liquid crystal dropping apparatus to drop-fill 10-20 drops of liquid crystal evenly on the lower glass substrate 5.
- the locations of the dots in Fig.3 represent the positions where liquid crystal needs to be drop-filled.
- the present embodiment chooses one of the positions, denoted as a first position 6, and drop-fills the tagged liquid crystal on the first position 6, while the other positions are drop-filled ordinary liquid crystal.
- Step 203 turning on the vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device, then cell-assembling the upper glass substrate and the lower glass substrate, and also through the display apparatus observing the liquid crystal diffusion image formed in the diffusion process of the tagged liquid crystal drop-filled at the first position.
- the method of this embodiment uses the vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device described in the first embodiment, wherein a UV light source is selected as a light source, and accordingly the photosensitive element array comprises a plurality of UV-sensitive resistors. After the light-emitting apparatus of the vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device is turned on, the UV light emitted from the light-emitting apparatus, passing through the drop-filled liquid crystal, reaches the photosensitive element array.
- the first position 6 Since the first position 6 is drop-filled with tagged liquid crystal, most of the UV light is absorbed by the tagged liquid crystal when the UV light is transmitting through the above described liquid crystal, which means that the first position 6 as well as the surrounding region thereof receive less UV radiation, and accordingly less UV light reaches the corresponding UV-sensitive resistors. Therefore, the resistance of the UV-sensitive resistors in the region corresponding to the tagged liquid crystal is relatively large. The region corresponding to the tagged liquid crystal and the region corresponding to the ordinary liquid crystal are thus distinguished, and the greater the density of the tagged liquid crystal is, the larger the resistance of the UV-sensitive resistors becomes.
- the vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device it is possible to monitor the diffusion process of the tagged liquid crystal drop-filled at the first position 6.
- Step 204 drop-filling one drop of the tagged liquid crystal at a second position of the lower glass substrate, and drop-filling ordinary liquid crystal in other region of the lower glass substrate except the second position.
- the liquid crystal sandwiched between the upper glass substrate and the lower glass substrate may be cleaned off, as shown in Fig.4 , and then a liquid crystal dropping apparatus is used to drop-fill one drop of the tagged liquid crystal at the second position 7 of the lower glass substrate 5 and drop-fill ordinary liquid crystal in other region of the lower glass substrate except the second position 7.
- Step 205 cell-assembling an upper glass substrate and the lower glass substrate, and also observing the liquid crystal diffusion image formed in the diffusion process of the tagged liquid crystal drop-filled at the second position.
- the diffusion process of a liquid crystal droplet at the same location is basically similar, because the force-bearing condition of a liquid crystal droplet at the same location is basically the same, although the liquid crystal diffusion process at the same location such as the first position 6 is different each time. Therefore, by superimposing the diffusion process of the tagged liquid crystal drop-filled at the first position and the second position, the liquid crystal diffusion processes of the regions corresponding to the first position and the second position are obtained; further, by superimposing respective diffusion process after the respective diffusion process of the liquid crystal droplet at each location is obtained through the above method, the diffusion process of the whole liquid crystal layer can be monitored.
- the specific location for drop-filling tagged liquid crystal on the lower glass substrate may be the first position or the second position, and also may be any other location for drop-filling a liquid crystal droplet.
- Step 206 adjusting parameters of the cell-assembling procedure according to the liquid crystal diffusion image.
- the parameters of the cell-assembling procedure comprise liquid crystal amount, liquid crystal drop interval, liquid crystal temperature, and cell-assembling pressure.
- the values of the liquid crystal amount, the liquid crystal drop interval, the liquid crystal temperature and the cell-assembling pressure may be preset before the cell-assembly, then during the cell-assembling, it may be observed through the vacuum cell-assembling device whether or not the liquid crystal diffusion meets the requirements and whether or not there is a lot of generated bubbles under such a set of parameters. If the liquid crystal diffusion does not meet the requirements, then at least one of the parameters from the liquid crystal amount, the liquid crystal interval, the liquid crystal temperature, and the cell-assembling pressure will be changed, and thereafter the cell-assembling test is performed again until the liquid crystal diffusion meets the requirements and the quantity of the generated bubbles is within a permissible range of the process.
- the liquid-crystal-cell-assembling method of this embodiment by drop-filling the tagged liquid crystal at the first position, makes the most of the UV light absorbed by the tagged liquid crystal when the UV light is transmitting through the liquid crystal drop-filled at the first position, so that the resistance of the UV-sensitive resistors in the region corresponding to the tagged liquid crystal is relatively large, while the resistance in other regions is relatively small.
- the vacuum cell-assembling device it is possible to monitor the diffusion process of the tagged liquid crystal drop-filled at the first position.
- the diffusion process of the whole liquid crystal layer can be monitored, and thus the producing processes of a liquid crystal panel is improved and the yield is increased.
- the present invention can be realized by means of software plus necessary common hardware, and certainly, it also can be realized by hardware, but in many cases the former is a better manner.
- the technical schemes of the present invention in essence or the part contributing to the prior art, can be embodied in form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in accessible storage medium, such as a floppy, a hard disk or a CD-ROM used with a computer, which comprises a number of instructions for making a computer device (maybe a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) implement the method described in various embodiment of the present invention.
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Description
- The present invention relates to a manufacturing field of a liquid crystal panel, especially to a vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device and a liquid-crystal-assembling method.
- During the manufacturing procedure of a liquid crystal panel, defects such as bubbles and the like usually occur during assembling an upper glass substrate and a lower glass substrate (generally an array substrate and a color film substrate) of a liquid crystal panel to form a cell (cell-assembling). This severely affects the quality as well as yield of the liquid crystal panel. Moreover, the courses of bubbles generation can not be monitored, which poses a considerable obstacle toward process improvement.
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US 2009/213317 A1 discloses a vacuum cell assembling device comprising opposed first and second substrates arranged to hold/support the liquid crystal display panel substrates during the vacuum assembly of the LCD panel substrates.US 2009/213317 A1 also discloses a cell-assembling method using said vacuum-assembling device, the method comprising drop-filling the liquid crystal material on the lower glass substrate and cell assembling the upper glass substrate on the lower glass substrate. -
US 2005/068488 A1 discloses an LCD panel assembly method using a drop-filling process. For mass production, dummy cells are formed in the periphery of the image display cell regions. After drop-filling and vacuum assembling the panel substrates, the dummy cells are inspected (either manually or automatically by image processing) in order to check whether the liquid crystal amount was to high (gap defect) or to low (bubbles), and feedback is given for the mass production by adjusting the liquid crystal drop filling amount accordingly. -
WO2010/137370 A1 discloses a liquid crystal drop-filling apparatus having a moving mechanism for moving a syringe from which liquid crystal drops are dropped onto a colour filter substrate. CCD cameras are moved together with the syringe to capture images of the liquid crystal discharged from the syringe. Captured image data are analysed by a computer to provide feedback for the drop-filling process. - According to the embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device according to appended
independent claim 1. - In some examples, the photosensitive element array is provided on the surface of the lower substrate opposing the upper substrate.
- The light-emitting apparatus, for example, may comprise a light source, a light reflection plate and a light guide plate, wherein the light source is provided at one side of the light guide plate, and the light guide plate is provided below the light reflection plate.
- In some examples, the light source is a UV (ultraviolet) light source, and the photosensitive element array is an array constituted by a plurality of UV sensitive resistors, for receiving UV light emitted from the UV light source of the upper substrate.
- The light guide plate, for example, may be a flat-type light guide plate.
- In some examples, the signal processing apparatus may comprise a two-dimensional modeling unit, for converting the electrical signals from the photosensitive element array to the liquid crystal diffusion image.
- In some examples, the vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device may also comprise a display apparatus which is connected with the signal processing apparatus, for displaying the liquid crystal diffusion image.
- The photosensitive element array, for example, may comprise a plurality of photoresistors.
- The photoresistors, for example, may be in rectangular thin sheet-like shape.
- According to some other embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a liquid-crystal-cell-assembling method according to appended claim 10.
- In some examples, the liquid crystal is tagged a liquid crystal.
- For example, the tagged liquid crystal may be a UV-absorbing tagged liquid crystal formed by embedding molecular groups into carbon chains of ordinary liquid crystal molecules.
- In some examples, the tagged liquid crystal is drop-filled at a first position on the lower glass substrate, and ordinary liquid crystal is drop-filled in other region of the lower glass substrate except the first position. In these examples, optionally, the method further comprises: after cleaning off the liquid crystal, drop-filling the tagged liquid crystal at a second position of the lower glass substrate, then drop-filling ordinary liquid crystal in other region of the lower glass substrate except the second position; and superimposing the liquid crystal diffusion images formed at the first and second positions, thereby obtaining an integrated liquid crystal diffusion image, then adjusting the parameters of the cell-assembling procedure according to the integrated liquid crystal diffusion image.
- The parameters of the liquid-crystal-cell-assembling procedure, for example, may comprise: the liquid crystal amount, the liquid crystal drop interval, the liquid crystal temperature, and the cell-assembling pressure.
- In order to explain the embodiments of the present invention or technical schemes in the prior art with more clarity, below the accompanying drawings needed for the description of the embodiments will be introduced briefly. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are merely some embodiments of the present invention, from which other drawings may be obtained by the ordinary skilled in the art without creative effort.
-
Fig.1 is a schematic structural view of a vacuum cell-assembling device according to an embodiment of the present invention; -
Fig.2 is another schematic structural view of a vacuum cell-assembling device according to an embodiment of the present invention; -
Fig.3 is a schematic view of a first position of a lower glass substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention; -
Fig.4 is a schematic view of a second position of a lower glass substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention; -
Fig.5 is a flow chart of a cell-assembling method in an embodiment of the present invention; and -
Fig.6 is another flow chart of a cell-assembling method in an embodiment of the present invention. -
- 1. Upper substrate; 11. Light source; 12. Light reflection plate;
- 13. Light guide plate; 2. Lower substrate;
- 21. Photosensitive element array; 3. Signal processing apparatus;
- 4. Display apparatus; 5. Lower glass substrate;
- 6. First position; 7. Second position.
- Embodiments of the present invention provide a vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device and a liquid-crystal-cell-assembling method, which achieve real-time monitoring of liquid crystal diffusion process.
- Below, the embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
- This embodiment provides a vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device, as shown in
Fig.1 and Fig.2 , the device comprising: anupper substrate 1, alower substrate 2 provided opposite to theupper substrate 1, and asignal processing apparatus 3. Theupper substrate 1 is provided with a light-emitting apparatus thereon, and thelower substrate 2 is provided with aphotosensitive element array 21 thereon, for receiving light from theupper substrate 1. Thephotosensitive element array 21 is connected with thesignal processing apparatus 3, and thesignal processing apparatus 3 is adapted for converting the electrical signals from thephotosensitive element array 21 to a liquid crystal diffusion image. - The light-emitting apparatus of the
upper substrate 1 is preferably a uniform surface light source. Specifically, the light-emitting apparatus may comprise alight source 11, alight reflection plate 12 and alight guide plate 13, wherein thelight source 11 is provided at one side of thelight guide plate 13, and thelight guide plate 13 is provided below thelight reflection plate 12. - In one example of the present embodiment, the
photosensitive element array 21 may be provided on the surface of thelower substrate 2 opposing theupper substrate 1. In other examples, such as cases that thelower substrate 2 is transparent compared to theupper substrate 1, thephotosensitive element array 21 also may be provided on the surface of thelower substrate 2 facing away from thesubstrate 1, or formed in an intermediate layer of thelower substrate 2. - The
photosensitive element array 21 may comprise a plurality of photoresistors, such as a plurality of UV-sensitive resistors. - In the vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device of this embodiment, after the light-emitting apparatus is turned on, the light emitted from the
light source 11, after being scattered by thelight guide plate 13 and reflected by thelight reflection plate 12, forms a surface light source of downward-directed illumination. During cell-assembling, an upper glass substrate and a lower glass substrate with a liquid crystal layer sandwiched therebetween are placed between theupper substrate 1 and thelower substrate 2, and the light emitted by thelight source 11, passes through the liquid crystal layer, and irradiates onto the plurality of photoresistors of thephotosensitive element array 21. - Photoresistors are also known as light pipes. Commonly used production materials for photoresistors include cadmium sulfide (CdS), as well as selenium, aluminum sulfide, lead sulfide and bismuth sulfide and the like. These production materials have such a property that their resistance decreases rapidly when they are illuminated by light with a specific wavelength. Therefore, a photoresistor's resistance changes with intensity of incident light: the resistance decreases when incident light is strong, and the resistance increases when incident light is weak.
- Since each drop of liquid crystal molecules have different diffusion routes and diffusion processes, thereby different absorption or transmission properties for light are presented along with the diffusion of the liquid crystal molecules. When the light emitted from
light source 11, passing through the liquid crystal layer, illuminates thephotosensitive element array 21, the various light intensity cause changes in respective photoresistors, that is, changes will occur in the electric current flowing through the photoresistors or the voltages applied to the photoresistors. In this way, changes of light are converted into changes of electrical signals. Thesignal processing apparatus 3 can obtain a liquid crystal diffusion image according to the changes of the electrical signals.
Further, thesignal processing apparatus 3 can also receive electrical signals in accordance with a certain frequency from thephotosensitive element array 21, and convert the electrical signals into a liquid crystal diffusion image. - Furthermore, the
signal processing apparatus 3 comprises a two-dimensional modeling unit, for converting the electrical signals from thephotosensitive element array 21 into a liquid crystal diffusion image. The two-dimensional modeling unit processes the electrical signals at a time point into an image, and as observed in a continuous period of time, the two-dimensional modeling unit of thesignal processing apparatus 3 processes the changing electrical signals into changing images. The vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device according to this embodiment also comprises a display apparatus 4, and this display apparatus 4 is connected with thesignal processing apparatus 3, for continuously displaying the liquid crystal diffusion images. Thus a real-time monitoring of liquid crystal diffusion process is achieved. - Further, the photoresistors in the present embodiment each can be manufactured in a rectangular thin sheet-like shape so as to absorb more light energy.
- As an implementation of the embodiment of the present invention, the
light source 11 of the light-emitting apparatus may be a UV light source, and accordingly thephotosensitive element array 21 comprises a plurality of UV-sensitive resistors, for receiving the UV light emitted from the upper substrate. - The
light guide plate 13 of this embodiment may be a flat-type light guide plate or a wedge-shaped light guide plate. With consideration that during the cell-assembly, theupper substrate 1 and thelower substrate 2 will apply a certain pressure on the upper glass substrate and the lower glass substrate, thelight guide plate 13 in this embodiment is preferably a flat-type light guide plate so as to ensure the evenness of the pressure and to protect thelight guide plate 13 from being damaged by the pressure. - During the operation of the vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device, it is required that the
upper substrate 1 adsorbs the upper glass substrate of the liquid crystal panel, thelower substrate 2 adsorbs the lower glass substrate of the liquid crystal panel, and then theupper substrate 1 is moved exactly above thelower substrate 2 and then moved down, thus realizing the cell-assembly of the upper glass substrate and the lower glass substrate. In normal cases, there are vacuum adsorption and electrostatic adsorption as adsorption methods. - When vacuum adsorption is used as the adsorption method, it is necessary to provide vacuum adsorption holes on the
upper substrate 1 to realize adsorbing the upper glass substrate. When electrostatic adsorption is used as the adsorption method, it is not necessary to provide vacuum adsorption holes. Thus, in order to ensure the integrity of thelight guide plate 13 and thelight reflection plate 12, the adsorption method of this embodiment is preferably electrostatic adsorption. - It should be noted that, the upper and lower substrates of a liquid crystal panel to be cell-assembled in the present invention are respectively called "upper glass substrate" and "lower glass substrate"; however, these substrates may be made of glass, and also may be substrates of other materials or types to be cell-assembled.
- The vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device according to this embodiment of the present invention provides a light-emitting apparatus on the surface of the upper substrate opposing the lower substrate, and provides a photosensitive element array on the surface of the lower substrate opposing the upper substrate. When the light-emitting apparatus is turn on, the light emitted from the light source, passing through the liquid crystal layer, reaches the photosensitive element array, and the resistance of the photo resistors in the photosensitive element array will change along with the intensity of the arriving light. Thus, the liquid crystal diffusion process between the upper glass substrate and the lower glass substrate is converted into changes of electrical signals, thereby achieving real-time monitoring of the liquid crystal diffusion process. In addition, this embodiment has the photoresistors made in rectangular thin sheet-like shape, which allows the photoresistor to absorb more light energy.
- This embodiment provides a liquid-crystal-cell-assembling method, as shown in
Fig.5 , which comprises the followingsteps 101 to 104. - Step 101: drop-filling liquid crystal on a lower glass substrate.
- With a 14-inch liquid crystal display screen as an example, during forming of a liquid crystal layer, as shown in
Fig.3 , it is required to use a liquid crystal dropping apparatus to drop-fill 10-20 drops of liquid crystal evenly on thelower glass substrate 5. The locations of the dots inFig.3 represent the positions where liquid crystal needs to be drop-filled. - As a specific implementation of the present invention, the liquid crystal may use tagged liquid crystal, for example, UV-absorbing liquid crystal molecules which are formed by embedding molecular groups into carbon chains of ordinary liquid crystal molecules.
- Embedding of molecular groups such as C = C or C = O or C = N or N = N and the like in carbon chains of ordinary liquid crystal molecules can make the new generated tagged liquid crystal molecules absorb UV light; the embedding method may be conducted by causing ordinary liquid crystal molecules to undergo certain chemical reactions. With a certain carbon chain of a liquid crystal molecule as an example, the chemical reactions may be expressed as below:
- Through the above reaction, the carbon chains of ordinary liquid crystal molecules have C = C molecular groups, and in this way, the tagged liquid crystal is formed.
- Step 102: cell-assembling an upper glass substrate and the lower glass substrate.
- The method of this embodiment uses the vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device described in the first embodiment; as an example, a UV light source is selected as the light source, and accordingly the photosensitive element array comprises a plurality of UV-sensitive resistors. After the light-emitting apparatus of the vacuum liquid-crystal-device is turned on, the UV light emitted from the light-emitting apparatus, passing through the drop-filled liquid crystal, reaches the photosensitive element array.
- Since the drop-filled liquid crystal is UV-absorbing tagged liquid crystal, thus most of the UV light is absorbed by the tagged liquid crystal when the UV light is transmitting through the above described liquid crystal, which means that the region covered with the tagged liquid crystal receives less UV radiation, and accordingly less UV light reaches the corresponding UV-sensitive resistors. Therefore, the resistance of the UV-sensitive resistors in the region corresponding to the tagged liquid crystal is relatively large. The region corresponding to the tagged liquid crystal and the region that is not covered by the tagged liquid crystal are thus distinguished, and the greater the density of the tagged liquid crystal is, the larger the resistance of the UV-sensitive resistors become.
- Step 103: observing a liquid crystal diffusion image formed in the diffusion process of the liquid crystal.
- During cell-assembling, the liquid crystal diffusion image formed in the diffusion process of the tagged liquid crystal is observed through a display apparatus.
- Step 104: adjusting parameters of the cell-assembling procedure according to the liquid crystal diffusion-simulation image.
- Herein, the parameters of the cell-assembling procedure comprise: liquid crystal amount, liquid crystal drop interval, liquid crystal temperature, and cell-assembling pressure.
- In the method of this embodiment, the values of the liquid crystal amount, the liquid crystal drop interval, the liquid crystal temperature and the cell-assembling pressure may be preset before the cell-assembly, then during the cell-assembling, it may be observed through the vacuum cell-assembling device whether or not the liquid crystal diffusion meets the requirements and whether or not there is a lot of generated bubbles under such a set of parameters. If the liquid crystal diffusion does not meet the requirements, then at least one of the parameters of the liquid crystal amount, the liquid crystal interval, the liquid crystal temperature, and the cell-assembling pressure will be changed; thereafter the cell-assembling test is performed again, until the liquid crystal diffusion meets the requirements and the quantity of the generated bubbles are within a permissible range of the process. The process to observe the liquid crystal diffusion image formed in the diffusion process of the tagged liquid crystal and adjust the parameters of the cell-assembling procedure according to that image may be performed by a person, and also may be accomplished automatically by a machine with a preset programming instruction.
- The liquid-crystal-cell-assembling method, according to this embodiment, forms tagged liquid crystal by marking liquid crystal molecules, and at the same time utilizes the property that the tagged liquid crystal can absorb UV light, so that the signal processing apparatus is allowed to identify the regions covered with liquid crystal and the regions not covered with liquid crystal, as well as the covering thickness of the liquid crystal. In this way, the liquid crystal diffusion process can be monitored, and thus the producing process of a liquid crystal panel is improved and the yield is increased.
- The present embodiment provides a liquid-crystal-cell-assembling method, as shown in
Fig.6 , which comprises the followingsteps 201 to 206. - Step 201: marking liquid crystal molecules, so that tagged liquid crystal is formed.
- As a specific implementation of marking, molecular groups may be embedded in carbon chains of ordinary liquid crystal molecules, thus forming UV-absorbing liquid crystal molecules.
- Embedding of molecular groups such as C = C or C = O or C = N or N = N and the like in carbon chains of ordinary liquid crystal molecules can make the new generated tagged liquid crystal molecules absorb UV light; the embedding method may be conducted by causing ordinary liquid crystal molecules to undergo certain chemical reactions. With a certain carbon chain of a liquid crystal molecule as an example, the chemical reactions may be expressed as below:
- Through the above reaction, the carbon chains of ordinary liquid crystal molecules have C = C molecular groups.
- Step 202: drop-filling one drop of the tagged liquid crystal at a first position on a lower glass substrate, and drop-filling ordinary liquid crystal in other region of the lower glass substrate except the first position.
- With a 14-inch liquid crystal display screen as an example, during manufacture of a liquid crystal layer, as shown in
Fig.3 , it is required to use a liquid crystal dropping apparatus to drop-fill 10-20 drops of liquid crystal evenly on thelower glass substrate 5. The locations of the dots inFig.3 represent the positions where liquid crystal needs to be drop-filled. The present embodiment chooses one of the positions, denoted as a first position 6, and drop-fills the tagged liquid crystal on the first position 6, while the other positions are drop-filled ordinary liquid crystal. - Step 203: turning on the vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device, then cell-assembling the upper glass substrate and the lower glass substrate, and also through the display apparatus observing the liquid crystal diffusion image formed in the diffusion process of the tagged liquid crystal drop-filled at the first position.
- The method of this embodiment uses the vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device described in the first embodiment, wherein a UV light source is selected as a light source, and accordingly the photosensitive element array comprises a plurality of UV-sensitive resistors. After the light-emitting apparatus of the vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device is turned on, the UV light emitted from the light-emitting apparatus, passing through the drop-filled liquid crystal, reaches the photosensitive element array.
- Since the first position 6 is drop-filled with tagged liquid crystal, most of the UV light is absorbed by the tagged liquid crystal when the UV light is transmitting through the above described liquid crystal, which means that the first position 6 as well as the surrounding region thereof receive less UV radiation, and accordingly less UV light reaches the corresponding UV-sensitive resistors. Therefore, the resistance of the UV-sensitive resistors in the region corresponding to the tagged liquid crystal is relatively large. The region corresponding to the tagged liquid crystal and the region corresponding to the ordinary liquid crystal are thus distinguished, and the greater the density of the tagged liquid crystal is, the larger the resistance of the UV-sensitive resistors becomes. By way of the above method, in the vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device, it is possible to monitor the diffusion process of the tagged liquid crystal drop-filled at the first position 6.
- Step 204: drop-filling one drop of the tagged liquid crystal at a second position of the lower glass substrate, and drop-filling ordinary liquid crystal in other region of the lower glass substrate except the second position.
- After completion of the
step 203, in order to save experimental materials, the liquid crystal sandwiched between the upper glass substrate and the lower glass substrate may be cleaned off, as shown inFig.4 , and then a liquid crystal dropping apparatus is used to drop-fill one drop of the tagged liquid crystal at thesecond position 7 of thelower glass substrate 5 and drop-fill ordinary liquid crystal in other region of the lower glass substrate except thesecond position 7. - Step 205: cell-assembling an upper glass substrate and the lower glass substrate, and also observing the liquid crystal diffusion image formed in the diffusion process of the tagged liquid crystal drop-filled at the second position.
- Likewise, the diffusion process of the tagged liquid crystal drop-filled at the
second position 7 is monitored. - In each cell-assembling experiment, the diffusion process of a liquid crystal droplet at the same location is basically similar, because the force-bearing condition of a liquid crystal droplet at the same location is basically the same, although the liquid crystal diffusion process at the same location such as the first position 6 is different each time. Therefore, by superimposing the diffusion process of the tagged liquid crystal drop-filled at the first position and the second position, the liquid crystal diffusion processes of the regions corresponding to the first position and the second position are obtained; further, by superimposing respective diffusion process after the respective diffusion process of the liquid crystal droplet at each location is obtained through the above method, the diffusion process of the whole liquid crystal layer can be monitored. The specific location for drop-filling tagged liquid crystal on the lower glass substrate may be the first position or the second position, and also may be any other location for drop-filling a liquid crystal droplet.
- Step 206: adjusting parameters of the cell-assembling procedure according to the liquid crystal diffusion image.
- Herein, the parameters of the cell-assembling procedure comprise liquid crystal amount, liquid crystal drop interval, liquid crystal temperature, and cell-assembling pressure.
- In the method of this embodiment, the values of the liquid crystal amount, the liquid crystal drop interval, the liquid crystal temperature and the cell-assembling pressure may be preset before the cell-assembly, then during the cell-assembling, it may be observed through the vacuum cell-assembling device whether or not the liquid crystal diffusion meets the requirements and whether or not there is a lot of generated bubbles under such a set of parameters. If the liquid crystal diffusion does not meet the requirements, then at least one of the parameters from the liquid crystal amount, the liquid crystal interval, the liquid crystal temperature, and the cell-assembling pressure will be changed, and thereafter the cell-assembling test is performed again until the liquid crystal diffusion meets the requirements and the quantity of the generated bubbles is within a permissible range of the process.
- The liquid-crystal-cell-assembling method of this embodiment, by drop-filling the tagged liquid crystal at the first position, makes the most of the UV light absorbed by the tagged liquid crystal when the UV light is transmitting through the liquid crystal drop-filled at the first position, so that the resistance of the UV-sensitive resistors in the region corresponding to the tagged liquid crystal is relatively large, while the resistance in other regions is relatively small. In this way, in the vacuum cell-assembling device, it is possible to monitor the diffusion process of the tagged liquid crystal drop-filled at the first position. By superimposing the resultant diffusion processes of liquid crystal droplets at respective locations, the diffusion process of the whole liquid crystal layer can be monitored, and thus the producing processes of a liquid crystal panel is improved and the yield is increased.
- Through the above description of the implementations, it can be understood clearly by those skilled in the art that, the present invention can be realized by means of software plus necessary common hardware, and certainly, it also can be realized by hardware, but in many cases the former is a better manner. Based on such understanding, the technical schemes of the present invention in essence or the part contributing to the prior art, can be embodied in form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in accessible storage medium, such as a floppy, a hard disk or a CD-ROM used with a computer, which comprises a number of instructions for making a computer device (maybe a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) implement the method described in various embodiment of the present invention.
- The above description is merely specific implementations of the present invention, and the protection scope of the present invention is not limited to the above description but defined by the appended claims.
Claims (15)
- A vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device comprising:a liquid crystal dropping apparatus, a signal processing apparatus (3), an upper substrate (1) and a lower substrate (2) provided opposite to the upper substrate, wherein, the upper substrate is provided with a light-emitting apparatus (11, 12, 13) thereon,the lower substrate is provided with a photosensitive element array (21) thereon for receiving light from the upper substrate, the upper substrate (1) is arranged to adsorb an upper glass substrate of a liquid-crystal cell to be assembled, the lower substrate (2) is arranged to adsorb a lower glass substrate of a liquid-crystal cell to be assembled, the liquid crystal dropping apparatus is arranged to drop-fill drops of liquid crystal evenly on the lower glass substrate of a liquid-crystal cell to be assembled,the photosensitive element array is connected with the signal processing apparatus, and the signal processing apparatus is adapted for converting the electrical signals from the photosensitive element array to a liquid crystal diffusion image monitoring the diffusion of the liquid crystal drops in the liquid crystal cell to be assembled.
- The vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device according to Claim 1, wherein the photosensitive element array is provided on the surface of the lower substrate opposing the upper substrate.
- The vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein the light-emitting apparatus comprises a light source (11), a light reflection plate (12) and a light guide plate (13), and wherein the light source is provided at one side of the light guide plate, and the light guide plate is provided below the light reflection plate.
- The vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device according to Claim 3, wherein the light source is a UV light source, and the photosensitive element array is an array constituted by a plurality of UV-sensitive resistors for receiving UV light from the UV light source of the upper substrate.
- The vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device according to Claim 3 or 4, wherein the light guide plate is a flat-type light guide plate.
- The vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device according to any one of the Claims 1 to 5,
wherein the signal processing apparatus comprises a processing unit for converting the electrical signals from the photosensitive element array to the liquid crystal diffusion image. - The vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device according to any one of the Claims 1 to 6, further comprising a display apparatus (4) which is connected with the signal processing apparatus, for displaying the liquid crystal diffusion image.
- The vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device according to any one of the Claims 1 to 7,
wherein the photosensitive element array comprises a plurality of photoresistors. - The vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device according to Claim 8, wherein the photoresistors are each in a rectangular thin sheet-like shape.
- A liquid-crystal-cell-assembling method using a vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device according to claim 1, the method comprising:adsorbing an upper glass substrate of the liquid crystal cell on the upper substrate of the vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device, and adsorbing a lower glass substrate of the liquid crystal cell on the lower substrate of the vacuum liquid-crystal-cell-assembling device;evenly drop-filling drops of liquid crystal on the lower glass substrate;cell-assembling the upper glass substrate and the lower glass substrate;converting the electric signals from the photosensitive element array to the liquid crystal diffusion image for monitoring the diffusion process of the liquid crystal drops; andadjusting the parameters of the liquid-crystal-cell-assembling procedure according to the monitored liquid crystal diffusion image so as to avoid the generation of defects such as bubbles.
- The liquid-crystal-cell-assembling method according to Claim 10, wherein the liquid crystal is a tagged liquid crystal.
- The liquid-crystal-cell-assembling method according to Claim 11, wherein the tagged liquid crystal is a UV-absorbing tagged liquid crystal formed by embedding molecular groups into carbon chains of ordinary liquid crystal molecules.
- The liquid-crystal-cell-assembling method according to Claim 11 or 12, wherein the step of drop-filling includes the steps of drop-filling the tagged liquid crystal at a first position (6) on the lower glass substrate, and drop-filling ordinary liquid crystal in other regions of the lower glass substrate except the first position.
- The liquid-crystal-cell-assembling method according to Claim 13, further comprising:cleaning off the liquid crystal sandwiched between the lower and upper glass substrates;after cleaning off the liquid crystal, drop-filling the tagged liquid crystal at a second position (7) of the lower glass substrate, and drop-filling ordinary liquid crystal in other regions of the lower glass substrate except the second position;superimposing the liquid crystal diffusion images formed at the first and second positions, thereby obtaining an integrated liquid crystal diffusion image, then adjusting the parameters of the liquid-crystal-cell-assembling procedure according to the integrated liquid crystal diffusion image so as to avoid the generation of defects such as bubbles.
- The liquid-crystal-cell-assembling method according to any one of the Claims 10 to 14, wherein the parameters of the cell-assembling procedure comprise: liquid crystal amount, liquid crystal drop interval, liquid crystal temperature, and cell-assembling pressure.
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KR20090021001A (en) | 2007-08-24 | 2009-02-27 | 삼성전자주식회사 | Making method of display device and composition of sealant therefor |
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2011
- 2011-08-01 CN CN201110218358.8A patent/CN102681233B/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
-
2012
- 2012-07-20 JP JP2014523181A patent/JP6013479B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 2012-07-20 WO PCT/CN2012/078935 patent/WO2013017022A1/en active Application Filing
- 2012-07-20 KR KR1020127031368A patent/KR101496534B1/en active IP Right Grant
- 2012-07-20 US US13/696,919 patent/US8876569B2/en active Active
- 2012-07-20 EP EP12780627.1A patent/EP2741132B1/en not_active Not-in-force
Patent Citations (1)
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WO2010137370A1 (en) * | 2009-05-25 | 2010-12-02 | シャープ株式会社 | Liquid crystal dropping apparatus and method for monitoring dropping of liquid crystal |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
CN102681233A (en) | 2012-09-19 |
JP2014521997A (en) | 2014-08-28 |
KR101496534B1 (en) | 2015-02-26 |
US8876569B2 (en) | 2014-11-04 |
KR20130031277A (en) | 2013-03-28 |
US20140127962A1 (en) | 2014-05-08 |
WO2013017022A1 (en) | 2013-02-07 |
CN102681233B (en) | 2014-11-19 |
EP2741132A1 (en) | 2014-06-11 |
EP2741132A4 (en) | 2014-12-31 |
JP6013479B2 (en) | 2016-10-25 |
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